ChocolateBrownEyed Girl
by Self-Stirring-Cauldron
Summary: Tried and true. Where Krum asks Hermione to the Yule Ball. If you read I'll give you cookies? Please?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Chocolate Brown Eyed Girl

Author: Self-Stirring-Cauldron

Rating: K

Spoilers: Goblet of Fire.

Summary: Tried and true. Where Krum asks Hermione to the Yule Ball

Disclaimer: Characters Jo Rowling's. Title a spin on 'Brown-Eyed Girl' by Van Morrison.

Viktor Krum scowled at the giggling group of girls who were following him around the lake. He attempted jogging to get rid of them but to no avail. If only he could Apparate on Hogwarts grounds! Maybe he should summon his broomstick as Potter had done in the first task.

However, the speed of a Firebolt (Krum had recognized Harry's broom to be the same as his, while sufficient to get Potter away from a Hungarian Horntail, might not prevail upon these determined fan girls. Even now, they were silently whispering amongst themselves as to who should go up and get his autograph first.

With another scowl, Krum jammed his hands into the pockets of his blood red robes and set off back to the Durmstrang ship in a swirl of his heavy fur cloak. There at least those girls could not follow him.

Krum's friends, who were standing on the deck, laughed at his entourage as he approached the ship. Krum threw them a dark glare and quite a few, choice, Bulgarian curses.

"Viktor!" Poliakoff shouted. "Karkaroff wants to see you in his cabin! Probably want more pictures for the _Daily Prophet_!" Krum nodded at the first part of the message and scowled at the second. That Skeeter woman drove him mad.

He knew she drove the other champions mad too, probably Potter most of all. Krum didn't envy Potter that interview he'd had with her. All the rest of the champions had to suffer was having their pictures taken and their names misspelled horribly in a tiny corner of the _Daily Prophet._

Viktor knocked on Karkaroff's cabin door. He heard a frazzled-sounding "Come in" emanating from within and hesitantly opened the door. "Oh good Viktor" Karkaroff swept over to him, his sleek silver furs askew. "Yes Professor" Krum said.

"Now Viktor, the Yule Ball will be held up at the castle on Christmas Day. It's a Christmas dance that is part of the Triwizard Tournament." Krum shuffled impatiently. Surely, Karkaroff hadn't just wanted to tell him about some silly dance they were having.

"Viktor, the Triwizard Champions and their partners…"

"What partners?" Krum asked quickly.

"Your partners for the Yule Ball." Karkaroff said. "Your dance partners. You know how to dance I trust?"

Krum nodded. A lot more emphasis was placed on learning to dance in Europe than seemed to be done here in Britain. Karkaroff continued. "As I was saying, you and your partners will open the Yule Ball with the first dance. So, it is absolutely _imperative_ that you find a partner!"

Krum once again shuffled his feet. Karkaroff seemed to notice his nervous behaviour. "Come on, Viktor" he said impatiently. "All the girls in Hogwarts and Beauxbatons will want to go with you. You're Bulgaria's Seeker! I've seen those girls following you around all the time."

Viktor scowled at the memory of his fan club but nodded reluctantly to Karkaroff. He wouldn't be short of a partner no matter what happened, although he'd much prefer not to have to listen to one of those giggling girls chatter in his ear all Christmas night.

There was one girl in Hogwarts though. That bushy-haired, bookish one who always hung around with Potter. She maybe wasn't that pretty but she was intelligent and she had the most beautiful pair of dreamy chocolate brown eyes Krum had ever seen.

Well at any rate, Krum knew where to search for her. The library. He slouched in there on the pretext of looking things up in the books after Hogwarts classes were finished for the day and sure enough, there she was.

Hunched over stacks of books, her hand flying across parchment, only stopping for a second at regular intervals to dip her quill back into the ink jar. By the time Krum had been sitting there five minutes, she had written about a foot of parchment and he was wondering if her hand was cramping up from so much writing.

That was when Krum realized that the library wasn't quite as quiet as he'd thought. His fan club was there, hiding behind bookshelves, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist. Krum sank back into his chair, scowling. It was hard enough trying to work up the nerve to ask her to the ball without those ridiculous girls watching his every move.

He left the library that night without asking her. He came back though, every day, he actually quite liked the Hogwarts library, it was better than the one in Durmstrang, apart from that crazy librarian who would nearly hex you as soon as you touched one of her precious books.

She came back every day too, doing homework, reading or researching, a lot of her books seemed to have to do with House-Elves or the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Never did Krum actually talk to her more than to say "Here" once when she dropped her quill and he gave it back to her. Sometimes she came in with Potter and that red-headed friend of theirs, sometimes by herself, but it was always those giggling girls that drained Krum's courage as he thought he might actually be able to go up and ask her out.

He glared at them every time he passed but they just sighed, simpered and fluttered their eyelashes at him. Anyone would think they were in a secret plot to keep him away from the chocolate-eyed girl! Hermione, he reminded himself, that was her name. He had caught sight of it on a book she had dropped and he had returned once.

Finally, he decided it was time to resort to drastic measures. Getting up at dinner, he loudly announced to his friends, in English, so they knew he was up to something, that he was going back to the ship for the evening. The fan girls looked very disappointed, he thought one or two might actually have started crying.

He slipped back to the ship, but instead of staying there as he had announced so loudly to his friends that he would be doing, he went to his trunk and pulled out something that flowed in silvery folds around him. It was almost like moonlight made solid. An invisibility cloak.

Draping the cloak around him, making doubly sure it covered every inch of his frame, he snuck off the ship and, as he had guessed, two or three girls were watching it from the shore. He rolled his eyes. One word for the lot of them. Pathetic.

He made his way back up to the castle and quietly through the Entrance Hall, occasionally having to flatten himself suddenly against the wall to avoid bumping into a crowd of students. He got to the library within about five minutes and to his relief Hermione was there without Potter and the redhead.

Moving up next to her, he took off the cloak. She gave a small 'eep' of surprise as he appeared, apparently out of nowhere beside her. "How did you _do_ that?" she asked breathlessly. He showed her the cloak after a moment's hesitation. "Oh!" Her expression changed to one of comprehension. "An invisibility cloak!"

"Yes" He stood awkwardly for a moment or two until she gestured at one of the chairs at her table. "D'you want to sit down?" He took the seat she had indicated. "Thank you." She looked at him for a moment with a look that clearly said "Do you want something?" but he didn't say anything and she went back to her books.

"I know it's none of my business," she said after a few minutes. "But why were you coming to the _library_ in an invisibility cloak." A scowl darkened Krum's features as he was reminded of his fan club. "I vanted to get away from _them!_" he said eloquently. "Those girls?" Hermione's tone was amused. Krum nodded. "They're just hoping you'll ask one of them to the Yule Ball. If you ask someone they'll go away."

There! The perfect opportunity to ask her! _Come on Viktor_ he mentally berated himself. _Just ask her! Go on! There's your opportunity! Take it! It's going… going… gone._ In an attempt to strike up another conversation, he asked suddenly. "Ver you at the Quidditch Vorld Cup? I thought I saw you in the Top Box."

Hermione nodded. "I saw you too. You were brilliant. That Wonky… wronky…" Come on… what had Harry and Ron called it? "The thing where you made Lynch think you saw the snitch and crash." Hermione said finally. Krum's eyes glittered with amusement. "Wronksi Feint?"

"That's the one."

"You ver in the Top Box though veren't you? I saw you ven they brought in the Cup."

"Yes" Hermione acknowledged. "You were in some state by that time though weren't you? Did that Bludger break your nose?" Krum nodded and fingered his nose as though he could still feel the Bludger bashing it. "So" said Hermione. "Not that it hasn't been nice talking to you, but was there some reason you came up to the castle in an invisibility cloak or was it just to make idle conversation with students in the library?"

_God_ Krum thought. She was forthright. He had no choice now though, did he? He'd have to tell her that he hadn't come up to make idle chatter. He'd come up specifically to see _her_, to talk to _her_.

"No" he admitted. "There vos a reason I come up."

"Well?" said Hermione, with raised eyebrows. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to play Twenty Questions?" For a brief moment, Krum wondered what on earth Twenty Questions was but then he gathered the last shreds of his courage and spoke.

"I… vas vondering… if… maybe…"

"Yes?"

"Vood you like to go to the Yule Ball vith me?"

Hermione smiled warmly at him her beautiful chocolate brown eyes twinkling amidst her rather pale face, probably from spending so much time doing exactly what she was now. Reading. "I'd love to" she said.

"Oh, good." Krum collapsed back into his seat with a sigh. Hermione's eyes took on a mischievous gleam. "Were you afraid I'd say no? Did you think any girl would turn down Viktor Krum, Bulgaria Seeker and Durmstrang Triwizard Champion?"

"Yes" Krum responded simply. "I vos very afraid. That is vy it took me so long to ask you. I vos coming in here every day meaning to ask you but I couldn't."

Hermione looked sympathetically at him. "That's why I had to endure your fan club for weeks? Because you were afraid to ask me to the ball?" Krum nodded. "Well" Hermione said. "You managed it after all, didn't you? And now you can tell them you're already going with someone and maybe they'll leave you alone. Just…" She looked at him imploringly.

"Please don't tell them it's me your going with all right? I have this strange urge to not have all the girls in the castle looking jealous at me every time I walk down a hallway." Krum smiled and nodded.

"So" he said. "I vill be meeting you in the Entrance Hall on Christmas night, yes?" Hermione nodded. Viktor took her slender hand and kissed the back of it softly. "I vill see you then." He turned and left the library with a smile on his face, a most unusual expression for Viktor Krum, and made his way back to the ship.

"What are you looking so happy about?" his friend, Ivar Poliakoff asked, back on the ship. "None of us have a date to the Yule Ball yet." Krum grinned. "No" he said, and began to walk back to the cabin where he slept. He heard Ivar shouting after him. "What do you mean, no? Have you got a date? Tell me Viktor or I'll put Veritaserum in your pumpkin juice! Viktor! Who are you going with?"

Krum merely smiled and waved to Ivar without saying a word, knowing it would infuriate him. They would have to wait until the Yule Ball to see who he was going with. Krum fell asleep that night with a smile on his face and a dream of a beautiful chocolate-brown eyed girl.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chocolate Brown Eyed Girl: Chapter 2_

A/N Yes, I know I've taken forever to update, but give me a break people, I've been busy! My schoolteachers don't seem to realize I've got a life outside of schoolwork, my violin teacher doesn't realize I have a life outside of violin and between this that and the other I have had no time for writing! If you're suffering from a severe lack of HGVK then check out my other story, A walk by the Lakeside… oh no, I have to update that too. Crap! I really need about six more hours in the day! Oh well, at least this is a fairly decent length update.

Hermione awoke on Christmas morning feeling a strange mix of excitement and apprehension. The excitement was obvious. It was Christmas Day and there was the childhood happiness always associated with Christmas in her heart, not to mention a pile of presents waiting downstairs.

The apprehension… oh yeah. She was going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum that night. Her stomach clenched tightly, although not unpleasantly, at the thought.

Being a practical girl, Hermione decided the first thing to do was go and open presents. When she reached the common room, the boys were already there. Harry was leafing through the book she had gotten him, _Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland,_ and Ron was half-heartedly tearing the paper off another of Mrs. Weasley's jumpers.

Hermione methodically searched through the pile of presents under the tree until she found the ones addressed to her. The first one she opened was from her Mum, a beautiful package of aromatherapy bath oils.

Hermione felt a grin spread across her face. Even all the bubble bath taps in the bathrooms of Hogwarts couldn't compare with good old-fashioned bath oils. "What's that?" asked Ron, peering over her shoulder. "Oh, girls' stuff. Never mind."

She also got a new book on fashion from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century from her Dad. That was one thing she missed about Muggle school. Goblin rebellions really couldn't compare to Michelangelo and _the Pieta _or Leonardo da Vinci and_ the Virgin on the Rocks. _Thank God, Dad had seen to it that her history at any rate was not neglected.

When all her presents had been unwrapped, she sorted through them again. Bath oils from Mum, book from Dad, rock cakes from Hagrid (which she made a careful note of to put away until she could find a safe charm to dispose of them), large packet of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from Ron, a new quill and colour-changing ink from Harry, and a jumper (obviously from Mrs. Weasley), knitted in pretty, pink, angora wool, along with a stack of home made mince pies.

She then insisted on going down to the great hall for some breakfast although Harry and Ron stayed behind, nearly lost in a huge pile of red and green wrapping paper.

_Boys_ Hermione thought as she entered the Great Hall _They're like babies, sitting up there playing with their toys instead of being sensible and coming down to have breakfast._ Apparently not all boys though, as Viktor Krum and his Durmstrang friends were sitting at the Slytherin table.

He gave Hermione a nervous smile and she gave him a smile back, which was probably just as nervous if not more so. Casting her eyes downward to ignore the stares she was getting from Viktor Krum smiling at her, Hermione grabbed cereal, milk and pumpkin juice at the Gryffindor table and ate her breakfast in silence.

It was nearly ten o' clock before Harry and Ron shifted their lazy behinds out of the common room and then of course, in between much moaning and complaining, they suggested a snowball fight.

They didn't proceed right away, Ron proclaiming that he couldn't concentrate on anything before noon. _Well that would explain most of your marks in class_ Hermione felt like saying to him.

It was half past one before they actually got around to doing anything and then Fred and George insisted on joining them, causing more tramping around the grounds, looking for somewhere with enough snow for all five of them.

Five diminished to four as Hermione looked at her watch. "I'm going to go get ready for the ball," she said to the boys, as they flung snowballs at one another. "What, do you need three hours?" Ron shouted after her. "Who are you going with?"

Hermione merely waved and silently thanked Fred as a particularly well-aimed snowball of his caught Ron in the side of the head stifling his words and causing him to lose interest in Hermione as he turned back to Fred for revenge.

Hermione slipped up the stairs to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. She grabbed her various beauty products. A bottle of Sleakeazy's hair potion, Parvati had told her about this and she had bought it last Hogsmeade weekend, and the package of aromatic bath oils that had been a Christmas present from her mother.

She slipped into the bathroom and quickly turned on just a few of the taps, filling the tub with warm water and bubbles. _I love magic _she thought silently as bubble bath came streaming out of the taps.

She added some of the bath oils and then quickly undressed and slipped into the bath. For a few moments, she simply relaxed in the hot water, but then sat up and briskly scrubbed herself all over, until she was glowing pink.

Next came the Sleakeazy's. She uncapped the bottle and poured a liberal amount into the palm of her hand. She then proceeded to scrub her bushy hair well with it before rinsing it out.

Hermione gasped as she glanced at the hands of her watch, getting out of the bath. She had taken longer than she thought. She quickly dried herself off with a fluffy towel, thoughtfully left on a hot pipe by one of the house-elves (she was too busy to automatically go into full SPEW rant), and created a stream of hot air from her wand to dry her hair.

From her trunk, she pulled her periwinkle blue dress robes and sincerely hoped they wouldn't clash with whatever Viktor would be wearing. She was pleased to find they still fitted her as perfectly as they had in the summer, flattering her slim, delicate figure.

Grabbing a hairbrush from her dressing table, she pulled her hair back into a neat chignon and secured it firmly with many pins. Gazing at the many unfamiliar cosmetics on the dressing table that Parvati had helped her purchase, including _Fairy Dust Eye shadow: It'll really make you sparkle,_ Hermione decided to stick to the basics and applied clear lip gloss, pale blush and light blue eye shadow. (Not the Fairy Dust kind.)

She looked up into the mirror and was stunned at the pretty girl staring back at her. _Is that really me? _she thought. That tall slim girl with sleek, shiny hair, gorgeous blue robes and shining chocolate brown eyes? _Yep_ she thought with satisfaction. _I look good. _

"Ooh you look lovely, Hermione," said Parvati, coming up behind her. "I told you the Sleakeazy's was a good idea didn't I? Every boy in Hogwarts is going to want to dance with you. Especially… who did you say you were going with again?"

Hermione smiled at Parvati, but remained silent. She'd been trying to coax the identity of her date out of her for weeks. She was almost as bad as Ron really.

"You look lovely too," said Hermione. "Oh well, you know _I'm_ going with the Hogwarts champion!"

"One of them." Hermione reminded her. "Oh yes, well. You know to be honest I'm surprised he didn't ask you."

"Oh, by the time it occurred to Harry and Ron that I actually was a _girl_ who _could_ be asked to the ball, I'd already been asked." Hermione said with a laugh. "Boys!" Parvati rolled her eyes expressively. "Boys!" Hermione agreed.

"Actually, we'd better get going hadn't we?" Hermione said with a glance at her watch. "You go on," said Parvati, leaning over to check her make-up in the mirror. "I'll be down in a minute."

Hermione slipped down to the Entrance Hall where a few people were nervously shifting from foot to foot, presumably awaiting their partners. Hermione decided to check outside to see if there was any sign of the Durmstrang students coming from their ship.

She slipped around the heavy wooden door and caught sight of the crowd coming up from the lakeside. She made her way up to them, thankfully Viktor was at the head of the party so she didn't have to search for him. "Hi," she said, somewhat nervously. "Hi," he said, also seeming nervous.

"Ah Viktor." Karkaroff swept up, looking imposing in his sleek furs. "Is this your partner? Excellent, excellent." He gave Hermione a very oily smile, which made her skin crawl.

"Well come along then," he said to the rest of the party. "And do your school proud." Viktor held out an arm for Hermione to take, she did so and they made their way up to the castle at the head of the group of Durmstrangs.

When they reached the Entrance Hall there were, far more people there than Hermione had seen just ten minutes ago. Professor McGonnagall was lining up all the champions outside the doors to the Great Hall.

There was Fleur, attracting far more boys' stares than just those of her partner, Roger Davies. There was Cedric with Cho Chang. Hermione felt sorry for Harry, she knew how much he fancied Cho.

And there was Harry himself with Parvati on his arm, her bright pink robes very conspicuous in the crowd. "Hi, Harry!" she said. "Hi, Parvati!" Parvati was looking at her in disbelief, as were many of the girls from Viktor's fan club. She smiled as she remembered him hiding under his invisibility cloak just to come up and ask her to the Ball.

Harry was looking her up and down, apparently searching for any trace of the bookish Hermione he knew in her. When all the other students had made their way into the Great Hall, the big doors opened again and McGonagall directed the champions and their partners to proceed inside.

They made their way up towards the top table where the judges were sitting. Hermione attempted to catch Ron's eye as she walked past but he ignored her, the expression of utmost disdain on his freckled face.

_Fine_ she thought at him, her face flushed. Really, he was so childish. Viktor glanced at her; apparently, she had unconsciously gripped his arm tighter. "Are you all right?" he whispered. She nodded and took her seat next to him as they reached the table.

Instead of the usual huge platters of food on the tables, there were empty plates, menus, and no waiters. Viktor looked at just as much of a loss as her as to the method of serving until Dumbledore picked up his menu and announced to his plate, "Pork chops!" A moment later, the requested platter appeared.

_Oh, right_ Hermione thought, picking up her menu and scanned her menu. When she and Viktor had both placed their orders with their plates, she turned to him and attempted to strike up a conversation.

"Um, so what is your school like?" she asked. Viktor seemed immensely relieved by her starting the conversation; he immediately became more talkative than anyone in Hogwarts had ever seen him.

"Oh it is good. Nothing like here, of course. I am liking your school very much. The building is very beautiful and the veather is being nice." _British weather, nice? _thought Hermione. _Rain and sleet and fog?_ Krum continued with his description of Durmstrang.

"Vell, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking," he told her. "Ve have just four floors and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve haff grounds even larger than these – though in vinter ve have very little daylight so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flying every day, over the lakes and the mountains…"

"Now, now Viktor!" Karkaroff's voice cut across him and Hermione turned to him with an annoyed look on her face. She had been enjoying Viktor's company. He gave her the same oily smile he had before and said, intending to make it sound like a joke. "Don't go giving away anything else, now, or your charming friend will know exactly where to find us!"

Hermione heard Dumbledore draw Karkaroff into debate as she turned to Viktor again. "Igor, all this secrecy…" she heard him say. "One would almost think you didn't want visitors." She missed Karkaroff's answer as she had just muttered to Viktor, under her breath "Does he do this all the time?"

"Yes," Viktor replied, also under his breath, looking towards his Headmaster with an expression of intense dislike. "Well, we had better avoid such taboo subjects as your school then, hadn't we?" said Hermione. "And there's no point in me describing mine, you've seen a lot of Hogwarts all ready, and you're likely to see the rest before the end of the Tournament."

"You must tell me more about you." Viktor said, taking a sip from the golden goblet in front of him. "Oh, well," said Hermione, blushing. "Not much to tell really. I live outside London with my parents. They're both Muggles and they're both dentists. I have an enormous orange cat, called Crookshanks, that Ron swears is a demon. I like reading." She sat back. "There you have it, a summary of Hermione Jane Granger."

"Do you haff any sisters or brothers, Hermy-own?" asked Viktor. "No," Hermione replied. "And you're saying my name wrong. It's Hermione. Her-my-oh-nee."

"Herm-own-ninny," pronounced Viktor. "Close enough." Hermione caught Harry's eye and grinned. When everybody had finished off as much as they could of the delicious array of food, Dumbledore stood, asked the students to do so also, and with a flick of his wand, all the tables soared to the edges of the Great Hall.

With a cheer from the crowd of students, the Weird Sisters trooped up onto the stage. Viktor gallantly offered Hermione his arm and led her down to the dance floor, where McGonnagall was placing the champions. Hermione saw Harry stumble into place with Parvati, and felt sorry for him for a brief second.

Then Viktor placed one hand on her waist and she took her right hand to let her place his left on his shoulder. The Weird Sisters started up a slow tune and they waltzed in perfect time to the music, her dress robes swirling out in a flash of blue. Viktor was a surprisingly good dancer, considering that he was much less graceful on the ground than on his broomstick.

Other couples started coming onto the floor, including Neville and Ginny and Fred and Angelina, but Hermione didn't notice them. She had eyes only for Viktor. She lifted her head and her brown eyes locked with his nearly black ones. It seemed as if they were the only ones in the room, just them, slowly waltzing until the end of time. Then the song died away and Hermione stopped dancing reluctantly.

The Weird Sisters struck up a new, jazzy song, but Hermione did not start dancing right away. She savored the last lingering tendrils of romance that the slow dance had inspired. "Do you like this one, also?" Krum asked. "Ve do not haff to dance."

"No." Hermione said. "I love jazz. Let's dance." A grin spread across Viktor's face as she caught the beat of the music and started dancing. He fell into the rhythm that the fast song required, and clasped Hermione's hand just in time to send her spinning out from him, so her swirling blue dress robes became part of a pretty picture of many swirls of color from girls dress robes as their partners spun them.

He spun her back into him and danced with an infectious grin on his face, that Hermione soon caught. His Durmstrang schoolmates who saw him looked at him with looks of extreme astonishment on their faces, but Viktor was totally preoccupied with the chocolate-brown-eyed girl dancing with him.

Right people, I am working on the rest of the Ball really hard and hope to have it up before too long. I just figured I'd give you this to sate your appetites. The next one will just cover the rest of the Ball and probably won't be as long as this. Sorry. Keep reviewing people! Yopu have no idea how happy it makes me! And I'll update sooner if I have more encouragement…

Thanks,

Self-Stirring Cauldron


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